This column tells the stories of the people whose faces appear on “A Colorado Panorama: A People’s History,” a two-block-long tile mural on the southeast side of the Colorado Convention Center. Inspired by Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking book, “A People’s History of the United States,” the mural was created by artist Barbara Jo Revelle in 1989 to celebrate those who rarely make it into the history books, but who have nonetheless had a profound impact on the history of our state. This week we’re featuring profiles of Annie Maria Green and Ralph L. Carr.
Annie Maria Green ‒ Author and Greeley Pioneer (1836-1913)
In 1870, Annie Green, her husband, William, and their two children answered Horace Greeley’s call to “Go West, Young Man” and, together with 143 other families, headed for the Colorado Territory by train. They came to populate an Eastern Plains farming community called the Union Colony — known today as Greeley. Unlike other pioneers, however, Annie was not particularly captivated by her life in “Colorful Colorado.” She made her feelings known in a memoir entitled “Sixteen years on the Great American Desert; Or The Trials and Triumphs of a Frontier Life.” In her book, one of the first ever to be published in Colorado, she described floods, tornadoes, and her constant struggle to make ends meet. Out of sheer boredom she started the colony’s first school, wrote plays, and founded an amateur theater troupe. As the book unfolds, however, Green reveals a growing admiration for the colony, calling it “a handsome little city … with the best of hotel accommodation … and excellent schools and churches.”
Governor Ralph L. Carr, WW2 Opponent of Japanese Internment (1887-1950)
Colorado Governor Ralph Carr is best known for his opposition to Japanese-American internment during WW2. He received his law degree from the University of Colorado, served as Assistant Attorney General and was later appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado. He won the governorship in 1938, and held the office for two terms. It was during Carr’s second term that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, calling for the incarceration of Japanese-American citizens without due process. Of the more than 120,000 who were imprisoned, 7,500 were sent to the Amache Detention Center in Southeast Colorado. Recognizing injustice when he saw it, Carr publicly denounced the policy, calling it a clear case of racial intolerance and a violation of the Constitution. Carr’s opposition cost him his political career. In 1942, he lost his bid for U.S. Senator even though Republicans were favored to win. For his political courage, he was honored with a statue in Denver’s Sakura Square. The Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center is named after him.
Week One: Barney L. Ford and Agnes Smedley
Week Two: Benjamin Barr Lindsey and Anne Bassett
Week Three: William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Clara Brown
Week Four: William “Big Bill” Haywood and Anne Evans
Week Five: Buckskin Charley and “Babe” Didrikson-Zaharias
Week Six: Antonia Brico and Chief Black Kettle
Week Seven: Casimiro Barela and Daisy Anderson
Week Eight: Chogyam Trungpa and Ellen Elliot Jack
Week Nine: Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone and Chin Lin Sou
Week Ten: Emily Griffith and Dalton Trumbo
Week Eleven: Chipeta and Wallace Werner
Week Twelve: Eve Drewelowe and Davis Waite
Week Thirteen: Dr. Carl J. Johnson and Florence Sabin
Week Fourteen: Damon Runyon and Emma Langdon
Week Fifteen: Ellison Onizuka and Golda Meir
Week Sixteen: John Lewis Dyer and Helen Hunt Jackson
Week Seventeen: Edward Berthoud and Frances Wisebart Jacobs
Week Eighteen: Hattie McDaniel and Enos Mills
Week Nineteen: Isabella Bird and Francis Schlatter
Week Twenty: Laura Gilpin and Henry O. Wagoner
Week Twenty-One: Justina Ford and George Norlin
Week Twenty-Two: George Bent and Julia Archibald Holmes
Week Twenty-Three: Herbert Bayer and Mabel Barbee Lee
Week Twenty-Four: Martha Maxwell and Chief Ignacio
Week Twenty-Five: Isom Dart and Marvel Crosson
Week Twenty-Six: Jack Dempsey and Mary Long
Week Twenty-Seven: Mary Lathrop and James Beckwourth
Week Twenty-Eight: John Otto and Mina Loy
Week Twenty-Nine: Mary Rippon and Joseph Henry Stuart
Week Thirty: Lauren Watson and Molly Brown
Week Thirty-One: Mary “Mother” Jones and Chief Little Bear
Week Thirty-Two: Chief Little Raven and Neva Romero
Week Thirty-Three: Olga Little and Louis Tikas
Week Thirty-Four: Lowell Thomas and Poker Alice Ivers
Week Thirty-Five: Mariano Medina and Dr. Portia Lubchenko McKnight
Week Thirty-Six: Tsianina Redfeather and Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez
Week Thirty-Seven: Minoru Yasui and Ruth Cave Flowers
Week Thirty-Eight: Sadie Likens and Neal Cassady
Week Thirty-Nine: Nikola Tesla and Rose Marie Tabor
Week Forty: Oliver Toussaint Jackson and Sarah Platt-Decker
Week Forty-One: Portia Mansfield and Luis Junior Martinez
Week Forty-Two: Chief Ouray and Anne Ellis
Week Forty-Three: Stan Brakhage and Shawsheen
Week Forty-Four: Mary “Grandma” Shelton and Thomas Ferril
Week Forty-Five: Silver Heels and Oliver E. Aultman
Week Forty-Six: Louella Gooding and Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith
Week Forty-Seven: Silas Soule and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bates
Week Forty-Eight: Tim Flores and Irene Elizabeth Jerome Hood
Week Forty-Nine: Marcella Lucero Trujillo and William N. Byers
Week Fifty: Virginia Neal Blue and William Henry Jackson
Week Fifty-One: George Morrison and Elizabeth Beranek
Week Fifty-Two: William “Billy” Adams and Mother Pancratia Bonfils
Week Fifty-Three: Elizabeth Byers and Frederick Douglass Jr.